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Social Justice March by National Disabled Party gathers steam; To arrive in Delhi on 16 April - Volume 4 Issue 7: Disability News and Information Service for India

Social Justice March by National Disabled Party gathers steam; To arrive in Delhi on 16 April

D.N.I.S. News Network-
While the mainstream political parties are busy with their slug-fests ahead of
assembly polls in five states, a 600-km Social Justice March by a team of
disabled activists from a political party, exclusively espousing the rights of
disabled people, is gathering steam before its culmination in the national
capital in the middle of next month.

The march by Rashtriya Vikalang Party, which began on 18
February 2006 in Lucknow, though unnoticed in the national media, is generating
much excitement in the state of Uttar Pradesh as it meanders its way through
villages, towns and cities.

“It has received an exceptional response! The ideal that
drives us is of creating a common political agenda for 100 million disabled
people of this country. They have been neglected by mainstream political parties
despite constituting a substantial chunk of voting population,” said National
President of the Party, K. K. Dikshit, in a telecon with D.N.I.S.

“I can show you over 30 news reports on our march,” he
retorted when asked about the lukewarm response from English media. “Disabled
people live in poorest of conditions and live in ignorance. This will hopefully
politicise them,” he added.

Dikshit has written to several disability organisations
urging them to support this initiative and send a political message to parties
and rest of the country. “The party feels that unity amongst disability
organisations and disabled people is the bedrock of dignity and political
identity. As long as we stay isolated, the politics of neglect will continue,”
reads the letter.

The march, led by Uttar Pradesh State President Pramod Mishra,
is rallying support around a 25-point charter of demands. These include:
extension of reservation in government jobs for disabled people from the current
3 per cent to 10 per cent; implementation of job reservation in private sector;
reservation of 10 per cent posts in all political and governing bodies, from
local to national level; instituting a monthly disability pension of Rs 1,000
and clearing of the backlog of posts reserved for disabled people in the next
three months.